When it comes to application security (AppSec), there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook. Every company structures its AppSec program a little differently, whether that’s because of compliance requirements, engineering culture, how products are built, or who’s driving security efforts. But despite all those differences, a lot of teams are still doing the same thing: twisting their workflows to fit the limitations of the tools they use.
Here’s the truth: Your tooling should adapt to how your team works, not the other way around.
Rigid tools can create more headaches than they solve. You get clunky processes, more manual work and slower progress. In today’s world of fast-moving product teams and growing security expectations, that just doesn’t cut it. If your AppSec tools aren’t flexible enough to fit your environment, they’ll only slow you down.
What Flexibility Actually Looks Like
In our latest Office Hours session, Tackling Common Use Cases in DefectDojo, we walked through a handful of real-world examples that show how different teams are structuring their AppSec programs and how the right tooling helps them scale.
Let’s start with BigCorp (it’s fictional, but the use case is real). BigCorp has multiple business units, each led by its own Business Information Security Officer (BISO), which meant one big question loomed: How do you enforce consistent testing and reporting standards across such a distributed setup?
Their answer was to build their AppSec data model around their org structure. Each business unit became a “product type,” each application a “product,” and tests were organized under “engagements.” Everyone from the CISO down to individual product owners had access tailored to what they needed and nothing more. And perhaps most importantly, developers never had to log into the security tool - they stayed in Jira the whole time.
The takeaway: The right tools let you mirror your org structure, assign the right permissions and plug into your existing DevOps workflows. That’s how you scale without chaos.
Same Platform, Different Needs
Another example came from Cyber Robotics, a company building embedded software for industrial robots. Their situation looked nothing like BigCorp’s.
Cyber Robotics had multiple versions of the same product deployed in the field, and each version needed its own security profile, update history and compliance record. Beyond just managing code vulnerabilities, the team had to handle safety attestations, firmware tracking and regulatory reporting.
So, they adjusted the data model to treat each version as a distinct entity using tags and flexible dashboards to track what was in the field versus what was still in R&D.
Meanwhile, Sassy Software (a fictional SaaS company) had its own challenges. They’d grown through acquisitions and each product team had its own way of working: different scanners, different naming conventions, different testing cadences.
Rather than forcing everyone to conform, they standardized categories of testing (like SAST or SCA) while letting teams choose the tools that worked best for them. With support for 200+ tools and a universal parser in DefectDojo Pro that can ingest data from JSON, CSV, or XML formats, teams can work with the scanners and systems they already use. The result? A federated program that gives product teams autonomy while keeping reporting consistent at the top.
Why It All Matters
Your AppSec program isn’t just a checklist, it’s a reflection of how your organization actually operates. When tools don’t flex to meet your needs, you wind up with duct-taped workflows, scattered data and a whole lot of frustrated stakeholders.
But when your tools are designed to meet you where you are, everything starts to click:
Security should help teams move faster, not slow them down. And that starts with tools that fit your world.
If your security tools are making your life harder, it’s time to rethink the tools, not your process. Flexibility isn’t a nice-to-have anymore; it’s a non-negotiable if you want to scale AppSec without slowing down the rest of the business.
For more real-world examples and takeaways, check out the full Office Hours session.